Monday, November 21, 2005

SNL may be in some serious doldrums (read=leprosy) and no one I know seems to tune in any more, but I have to speculate that it's a consequence of a poorly chosen/managed writing staff. Sorry, Tina. You're not getting the job done.

They're plagued by lazy, bloated sketches involving questionable returning characters, not a new complaint. The Tina Fey Era of Saturday Night Live was supposed to be a renewal and a change of guard - which it was for all of 40 minutes. The irony is that the cast today is as strong as any they've had in 15 years or so, thanks to the efforts of Pohler, Myers, Armisen, Forte, Thompson, and now Bill Hader.

Is this guy great or what? Hader drove to the hoop with a "Vincent Price Thanksgiving Day Special" sketch draped on his shoulders and singlehandedly scored with an uncanny impression of the titular host. The best thing about his impressions is that they aren't anything at all like Darrell Hammond's tired, rigid, and drunkal impersonations (poisoning the cold opener, by the way). His Pacino impression in the Katrina-relief sketch on the fall opener will be a high point of this season.

Hey Lorne - fix the rest of it. Have the staff write UP to the performers - for chrizzakes, Amy just looks bored out there. And no more fake mustaches on Horatio Sanz, for the love of fuck. The franchise is werf preserving, yo.